Skip to main content

Article

Top questions for life sciences stakeholders

What are patients, providers, payers and regulators looking for from life sciences manufacturers? Here’s what to consider.

Whether you’re in the early stages of pre-clinical work or marketing a well-established therapy, there are a host of stakeholders that will influence your treatment’s success. At Optum Life Sciences, our deep domain expertise and connections to other sectors across health care give us insight into these players’ needs and challenges. Over the years, as we’ve helped pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and diagnostic companies develop holistic evidence generation strategies, we’ve seen some critical themes emerge.

In your own evidence planning, consider these top questions that patients, providers, payers and regulators are looking to answer.

Patients

Patients want access to care across a wider range of locations, including the home — and they expect their clinical histories to guide treatment.

Questions they ask:

  • How much of the cost will I need to cover to receive this treatment?
  • How are you capturing my experiences of this medical condition, outside of electronic health records (EHR) and claims?
  • How does my doctor know which treatment is right for me?

Providers

Providers are diversifying their trusted sources of evidence, both online and at the point of care.

Questions they ask:

  • How can your product help fill current gaps in care?
  • How do patients using your product compare to patients using the competitor’s product?
  • How do I know which patients will benefit most from your treatment?

Payers

Payers want greater alignment between reimbursement and value, especially for emerging high-cost precision therapies.

Questions they ask:

  • Are there medical cost offsets associated with your treatment?
  • How are you appropriately selecting comparators and measuring outcomes?
  • For curative therapies or medications that address chronic conditions, how are you accounting for the gap between when a treatment is delivered and when its benefits are realized?

Regulators

Regulators expect more evidence, while also signaling a greater openness to a wider range of sources — most notably, real-world evidence (RWE).

Questions they ask:

  • What have you done to show that your treatment is safe and effective across different demographic populations?
  • How are you monitoring post-authorization safety?

Related healthcare insights

View all

Video

Maximize Your Real-World Data Strategy

Optum Life Sciences leaders break down common missteps when using RWD and how to create practical strategies to overcome them. Watch the video from STAT Summit.

E-book

The 6 trends shaping pharma strategies in 2024

Life sciences market experts from Optum and Advisory Board share perspectives on trends that will influence the future drug value chain.

Article

Reassessing the Inflation Reduction Act with real-world evidence

Cut through the noise of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 with key points aimed to help life sciences leaders leverage impactful data.